She Will Be Loved
by Terrifica Oneiroi
Summary: I don't mind spending everyday out on your corner in the pouring rain. Look for the girl with the broken smile. Ask her if she wants to stay awhile. And she will be loved. Mickey/Rose Onesided.


Doctor Who © the Beeb, yo.

_She Will Be Loved_ by Maroon 5

* * *

_Beauty queen of only eighteen  
__She had some trouble with herself  
__He was always there to help her  
__She always belonged to someone else_

It always seemed, to Mickey, that she was always some other bloke's guy. First there'd been Jimmy. She'd taken one look at that jerk, and forgot all about him. Mickey tried not to be so bitter about that, because it ended so poorly. The bastard cheated on Rose, and took her money, and skipped town. Rose ended up 800€ in debt, but Jimmy Stones ended up in prison on drug charges. He figured it was the way things worked out in the world. Jimmy was gone, and good riddance, and he was back being the supportive mate/sometimes boyfriend.

And then Rose met Himself, the Doctor. He'd come in, interrupted their comfortable lives, and swept his maybe-girl off of her feet. The minute Rose stepped onto that alien's ship, she forgot all about Mickey… again. He should be used to it; he should be angry with her for treating him like this all the time, but the truth of it was, he loved her too much to intentionally push her away. So he was there, every time she called and told him she was coming back. Even when he'd been suspected of killin' her, he'd come around and helped her. It was always right back into that same old pattern.

_I drove for miles and miles  
__And wound up at your door  
__I've had you so many times but somehow  
__I want more_

He didn't think that he was looking to get hurt, but it did seem a bit daft, even to him, to keep going back to her, knowing that she'd never choose him for good. He accepted that role because that was all she was offering, and he was too weak to pass it up. He tried to date other girls. His brief fling with Tricia Delaney was disastrous. He felt like he was cheating, even though he knew that Rose hardly ever thought about him while she was swannin' around in that blue box. He shouldn't feel guilty over takin' a nice girl to dinner, but he did. And why? Cause the Doctor was right.

He was an Idiot.

_I don't mind spending everyday  
__Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
__Look for the girl with the broken smile  
__Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
__And she will be loved_

When she came back with the TARDIS that time, crying on his shoulder, he was ready to take her back. Just like old times, right? Rose gets dumped, or whatever really happened up there, and she comes back to him. That was what was supposed to happen. That was the way things worked between them. But no, not this time. Rose was different. She was angry, she was determined.

Gods, she was in love.

And he was the bigger fool for still sticking around for her. Not only that, but he actually helped her get back to Himself. Was he setting himself up for the next time something like this happened?

_Tap on my window, knock on my door  
__I want to make you feel beautiful  
__I know I tend to get so insecure  
__It doesn't matter anymore_

It took a split second to realize, as he watched Rose and the Doctor hug in that parallel world, that he couldn't be that person anymore. If he stayed on Earth, where she could reach him, he would always come running to her. And he would always get hurt from it. It would never end, not until something bad happened to both of them. He didn't think he was strong enough to say goodbye to her, and to mean it. If he couldn't do it on his own Earth, he would just have to make himself do it here. That way, she could never turn those doe eyes on him, and he wouldn't be hurt when she took off again.

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies  
__It's compromise that moves us along  
__My heart is full and my door's always open  
__You can come anytime you want_

He watched her saying goodbye to the Doctor. The last six months had been hell, an' he wasn't the only one who thought so. Jackie tried to be supportive of Rose, but she got the man she loved. Pete came back from the dead, in her eyes, and she could be happy again. Jackie was pregnant, and she was basking in the perfect way her life had turned out. But Rose, she was miserable. She couldn't stand seeing her Mum so happy to be in this universe. Jackie got everything she'd ever wanted, her husband, her children, enough money to live comfortably… but it cost Rose everything _she_ wanted. And Rose only wanted one thing, and that was the Doctor. When Jackie walked back with her sobbing daughter, Rose reached for Mickey, and he realized that even in this universe, he'd never be able to resist being the one to comfort her when she was feeling terrible, even if he was hurting himself, too.

_I don't mind spending everyday  
__Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
__Look for the girl with the broken smile  
__Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
__And she will be loved_

Rose, for a few months after that beach in Norway, got worse. She wouldn't speak to her Mum or Pete, and she barely ate. She let herself feel depressed and sad, and she could hardly look at him. For some masochistic reason, that made him want to be around her even more. Maybe he needed to be the one to pick up Rose's pieces. Maybe that was his purpose, to be the steady one that she could rely on. Jackie was getting close to having Tony, and Pete was delirious at being a father. For him, it would be his first child, even though biologically, Rose was his daughter. Rose couldn't look beyond Pete's rejection of her the first time they came to this universe. Every time she tried to smile, anyone with eyes could see that it was empty and fake. It made him want to protect her, to find a roll of tape and fix Rose.

_I know where you hide  
__Alone in your car  
__Know all of the things that make you who you are  
__I know that goodbye means nothing at all  
__Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls_

Even if she didn't realize it, it was Mickey who gave her direction. He introduced her to this universe's version of Torchwood, which was as close to the life she'd led on the TARDIS as she could get. Rose jumped into Torchwood, the first to get there in the morning, and the last to leave at night. Her entire life was devoted to it. She would sometimes crash at Mickey's flat, not able to stand the happiness at the manor. Her Mum's happiness felt bitter to Rose, he knew, because Rose had lost her own at the same time. Mickey was still the glutton for punishment he'd always been. She would knock on his door late at night, and he'd just open it up for her.

_Tap on my window, knock on my door  
__I want to make you feel beautiful_

It took six years for Rose to tell Mickey what she'd been working on so vigorously at Torchwood. Six years where Rose spent most of her time on Physics and Calculus classes, getting her degree. Nobody understood exactly why Rose wanted to become smarter all of a sudden. Mickey always figured that Rose was trying to become the Doctor, trying to capture a bit of her old life back. He would be lying if he said that it hadn't bothered him.

But when she showed him all of her work, her entire life's purpose for the last six years, he only felt tired. He wanted to think that they'd had something, these past few years. He knew that she was just biding her time, though. She'd been training herself, building that canon, and waiting for the right moment when she would try to get her happiness back. When she looked at him with those large eyes, hand on the button, he felt the familiar hurt. She was going out there again, and she was leaving him behind. Oh, he could come with her, but the moment she crossed, it wouldn't be Rose and Mickey, it would be Rose, and Mickey would be somewhere in the wings, waiting. It wasn't any surprise at all to him that the role was familiar and welcomed.

_I don't mind spending every day__  
out on your corner in the pouring rain, oh  
__Look for the girl with the broken smile  
__Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
__And she will be loved_

As Rose started to speak, he just smiled and shook his head. He knew, after all these years, that this was where he was supposed to be. He was always there, on the sidelines, with the band-aids, and he figured that he would always be. Strangely enough, he'd accepted it. She might try to apologize for it, but he knew that it didn't mean she wouldn't try again. So he just smiled at her, and put her hand on the new and improved dimension hopper, and knew, without a doubt, that he'd be here for her whenever this was over.

_Please don't try so hard to say goodbye_

* * *

Reviews are Love! I watched a nice vid of this on Youtube, and got inspired. Eh, it happens, right? I thought this was the perfect song for Mickey.


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